Political Standing for Feb. 15, 2013

Saturday, 7:15 a.m., Political Scoop: My guest this week is Jeff McLynch, the executive director of the New Hampshire Fiscal Institute. He gives his thoughts on Gov. Maggie Hassan’s proposed state budget and what other work his group is involved with in Concord.

I began a new weekly segment called Watching Washington. It looks at at the state’s Washington delegation and airs on WMUR every Thursday at 5:30 p.m. Watch the first episode here.

For Those Keeping Track

While guest hosting on the WGIR-AM morning show this week, I asked Nashua Mayor Donnalee Lozeau, a Republican, about how the NRCC is heavily recruiting her to run for Congress against Democrat Annie Kuster. She flat out said she said has no interest in running.

This is a little overdue, but recently Campaigns and Elections Magazine published a supplement naming the top five Republican and Democratic operatives in each state. Since no one has really noted who made the list locally here you go:

(Full Disclosure: While I used to sit on the magazine’s board and wrote or edited a series of a similar list in 2009, I had nothing to do with this list.)

In Case You Missed It

D.J. Bettencourt announced that he is giving up Facebook for the holy season of Lent. If he only did that like two years ago...

Trivia

Last week I asked: What did then Congressman Lou Wyman tell friends was the main reason that he didn’t run for the U.S. Senate in 1964?

No one even offered a guess. Wyman told then-NHGOP chair William Johnson that he received a letter from Union Leader publisher Bill Loeb that goes nicely enough:

“You’re a nice young man and you have a great future in politics in New Hampshire. But you’re not quite ready to be a U.S. Senator, and I think you ought to return to Congress. I have a candidate in mind for the U.S. Senate. But you keep your cool because you’re a young man."

Wyman apparently took this as “a death warrant.”

For this week: I will go a little easier. Name the first chair of a re-launched National Republican Senatorial Committee in 1949.

Be the first to give the answer in an email (jpindell [at] hearst [dot] com), and I’ll recognize you next week.

Questions For The Weekend

Is there a pattern developing of Carol Shea-Porter and Annie Kuster, both Democrats, voting differently as they did again on Friday?

How quickly will Texas Senator Ted Cruz make his first trip to New Hampshire?

Why did UNH President Mark Huddleston decide to testify in front of Congress on behalf of a nationwide group instead of showing up to Concord for Gov. Hassan’s budget speech?

Did former NHGOP chair Fergus Cullen just suggest in his Union Leader article that Bill O’Brien has a Napoleon complex?

Is it Jeanne Forrester for Governor and Frank Guinta for Congress, or is it the other way around?

Yes, 75 percent of Republicans support expanded gambling according to this week’s WMUR Granite State Poll, but if you are a Republican lawmaker -- not from Salem -- doesn’t Hassan staking her entire political career on gambling make you think twice?

Since we are all assuming a 2016 U.S. Senate race between Maggie Hassan and Kelly Ayotte, and since Ayotte is against expanded gambling, how will Ayotte play these next few months?

How does anti-Right to Work Sharon Carson feel about running in a Republican primary for Congress at the same time Bill O’Brien might be in his own Republican primary and talking about Right to Work?

Does anyone even realize there is a special House election in Nashua on Tuesday?

Has the Weather Channel given a name to the meteor that landed in Russia yet? If not, what are we supposed to call it?

Did the NHGOP and NRCC seriously mess up in not making the Twitter hashtag #LifeIsExpensive go viral after millionaire Annie Kuster said the phrase on WMUR Monday night?

If expanded gambling passes will Lou D’Allesandro, D-Manchester, retire? If so, would that bring a few Republicans along since his district is Republican leaning?

UP

Ray Burton: Not that the North Country legend and longest serving Executive Councilor in state history needs to be reminded how beloved he is, but he was this week out an outpouring of affection after he announced his battle with kidney cancer.

Jeanne Shaheen: With her poll numbers surging she is gaining momentum at the right time as Republicans ponder who will take her on.

Jill Neunaber: The former senior aide to Ovide Lamontange and Mitt Romney in New Hampshire, and a candidate for the NHGOP position, signed on as the campaign manager for GOP rising star Gabriel Gomez in the Massachusetts Senate special election.

PUSH

Gov. Maggie Hassan: Assuming that currently non-existent gambling revenues would be part of her budget was either the savviest thing she has ever done or it was not the smartest. (And yes we are including Maggiecare in there). The truth though, it was her only play if she was going to try to be true to her campaign promises. No politician would like to put their political future in the hands of others, but she did just that. Who knows how this is going to work out.

DOWN

Annie Kuster: She did the right thing by finally going on camera Monday night to try to put the property tax issue behind her, but her practiced “no excuse" excuse remarks still didn’t answer the question of why she didn’t pay her property taxes on time like others are asked to. This could become the issue next year.

University System: They didn’t get the funding they wanted. They caved and let the tuition hike freeze stay in place. They do understand that this is the starting point on their funding and that compromising is only going to lower it, right?